Initial Thoughts on the Arts

America is, and always has been, greatly influenced by arts of all forms. Visual, musical, and theatrical arts have been used throughout American History as a means to convey a message about the conditions of society at the time. People find a deep connection with many of these art forms, whether it is because of finding parallels between their lives and the art, or just because they find it appealing. This connection is something that i have felt with music ever since I started playing guitar. I have always loved to listen not only to the music, but the message that it conveys. This message is not only found in lyrics, but in the melodies and chords. When listening to the music of our history, from blues and jazz in the earlier 1900's to the beginnings of rock in the 50's and 60's, it is apparent that music was an important art to society, as it brought together cultures in difficult times. I would like to explore these ideas further, as I haven't really studied them in-depth; I only have ideas of what I picked up along the way. In reaserching the influence of arts (particularly music) on the history of America, I would learn a lot about the reason why something that I love is so important to the world today.

Peoria Trip

Tomorrow, I'm goin to Peoria with a small portion of the jazz band to play a composition by Aaron Zemach, "Cholic Clown," at the IMEA State Festival. Zemach wrote this piece as an assignment for jazz band last year, and sent it to IMEA as part of their jazz songwriting competition. It's a great piece, and clearly IMEA agreed, as it won first place in the state of Illinois. Bonus: I get to miss school.

In our next concert with the ful band we'll be playing a cool cover of a Beatles song, "She's Leaving Home," which Mr. Brame has a link to on his blog: http://deerfieldband.blogspot.com/.
That's it.